A toner recovery machine of related art is arranged with an offset belt. The offset belt acts as a toner carrier that circulates while directly carrying toner on the surface of a recording medium on which an image has already been formed. The toner recovery machine includes a cleaning roller, a waste toner container, first conveyer and second conveyer.
The cleaning roller has a first rotation shaft orthogonal to the circulation direction of the offset belt. The cleaning roller rotates around the first rotation shaft and recovers waste toner carried on the offset belt on the surface thereof. The waste toner container supports the first rotation shaft in a state where a part of the cleaning roller is exposed. With the part of the cleaning roller, waste toner can be recovered. The waste toner container accommodates waste toner recovered by the cleaning roller.
The first conveyer includes a toner conveyance regulating member reciprocating in the vertical direction and a conveying plate reciprocating in the horizontal direction. And, the first conveyer conveys waste toner, which is accommodated in the waste toner container, in the first pile-up direction being the direction apart from the cleaning roller by the linked operation of the toner conveyance regulating member and the conveying plate.
The second conveyer is a conveying screw having a second rotation shaft parallel to the first rotation shaft and extending in the waste toner container The second conveyer is located at the same side as the first conveyer on the basis of the first rotation shaft and is located at a further downstream side in the first pile-up direction than the first conveyer. And, the second conveyer rotates around the second rotation shaft and conveys waste toner in the second pile-up direction. The second pile-up direction is the direction from one end side of the second rotation shaft to the other end side thereof.
The toner recovery machine recovers the toner carried on the offset belt by means of the cleaning roller when the offset belt circulates while carrying toner adhered to the surface of a recording medium, and accommodates the waste toner in the waste toner container. And, the waste toner recovery machine conveys the accommodated waste toner to the downstream side in the first pile-up direction by the first conveyer, in other words, toward the second conveyer, and fills the waste toner in the waste toner container by further conveying the same in the second pile-up direction by the second conveyer.
A request for downsizing has been increased with respect to an image forming apparatus in which a toner recovery machine is incorporated. In line therewith, downsizing and thinning are requested in regard to the entire toner recovery machine. In addition, if the toner recovery machine is thoughtlessly downsized and thinned, this brings about a decrease in capacity of the waste toner container. Therefore, filling toner in a waste toner container as much as possible, that is, increasing the filling ratio of waste toner in the waste toner container is simultaneously requested.
With respect to the above-described point, in the related art toner recovery machine, waste toner recovered by a cleaning roller drops at the downstream side in the first pile-up direction by the first rotation shaft in the waste toner container, and is conveyed to a further downstream side in the first pile-up direction as it is. Therefore, it is not possible to accommodate waste toner up to a space under the cleaning roller or the upstream side in the first pile-up direction in the waste toner container, wherein it is difficult to increase the filling ratio of waste toner accommodated in the waste toner container. In this case, if the toner recovery machine is downsized and thinned, the quantity of waste toner that can be accommodated in the waste toner container decreases, and as a result, there is a fear that time and labor required for a user to replace a toner recovery machine and maintenance costs are increased.